After The Tide, an independently-produced documentary exploring the impact of erosion on Norfolk’s coastal communities, is calling for donations to complete production.

Capturing first-hand insights from local people whose homes are being scheduled for demolition as the cliff edges shift ever closer, and from a leading academic in the field of climate change adaptation, After the Tide has been a labour of love for its independent production team for the last 2.5 years. Now, the project needs to crowdfund at least £10,000 to cover its final costs including:

• the licensing of archival broadcast news footage
• subtitling and audio descriptions, to ensure the completed documentary is accessible to all
• sound mixing, sound design and colour grading

“Across the UK, coastal erosion has been a constant threat and hundreds of villages have been lost over the centuries to the encroaching tide.” Director Joe Harrington says. “However, with the threat of climate change, a dramatic rise in sea levels and hard defences failing, these communities are facing rapid rates of erosion which threaten their way of life.

“The film doesn’t just highlight the problem of coastal erosion, the effects on a real community, or the arguments for and against extra defences, it asks viewers to consider ‘what should we do?”

“Even if we were to defend the whole coast, those defences would eventually fail. It’s a responsibility for all of us to acknowledge that and be realistic.” – Dr Sophie Day, Senior Researcher Associate, University of East Anglia.

You can contribute to the crowdfunding campaign here.

Producer Evie Calaby notes that interest has dramatically increased since the documentary’s recent premiere screening. 

“We’re excited to announce that we have partnered with Journeyman Films for distribution which will give us a national and international market for the film. This does now mean that it’s more important than ever to ensure that we have the necessary licensing in place to take the film  forward, which means that we need to fund this sizable expense.”

Watch the After the Tide trailer here: https://vimeo.com/908612659/afd1b7fa58

From Joe and Evie: Why have we made this film?

“We live in Norfolk, we live close to the people featured in the film and we are directly affected by the change in government policy. Climate change is a big worry for our county. We have large swathes of farmland, water tourism (the Norfolk Broads) and rapid rates of coastal erosion in a county where a large percentage of the land already sits below sea level. It is with this direct concern for the issue that we have managed to gather the access we have to exclusive footage, points in the story and archival material.

“Our initial journey into the story came from a colleague back in 2022 – their family had a home in Happisburgh which was due for demolition within the next 12 months because of its proximity to the cliff edge. This gave us unique access and entry into the community, the demolition and the contributors we decided to focus on. The reason we’ve been diligently telling this story over time is because we are affected by it, we are motivated by it and we fundamentally believe this film can help to raise wider awareness, and with all of the information, allow people to form their own opinion of the issue.”

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/after-the-tide-feature-documentary#/